Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy has expressed his concern after a Strategic Planning for Flood Risk Management report revealed that a steering group established to oversee a national programme for flood risk assessment did not meet during a four-year period before November 2014.

The people of Ballina will get their chance to engage with the Office of Public Works when they host a public consultation day next month in Ballina in relation to a draft flood risk map for the town. The consultation day will take place on Tuesday November 11 at the civic offices in Ballina, where members of the public can meet with officials from the OPW and experts from the specialist consultant, JBA Consulting, who will also be in attendance.

The floods that ravaged Athlone in 2009 were considered a “once in a lifetime” event but Westmeath County Council have marked an area extending beyond the boundary of this flood in their maps detailing areas at risk of flooding in the Athlone Town Development Plan.